In addition to their booth at the Community Market, the Master Gardeners run a hotline, work with five Lynchburg elementary schools, the Detention Center, Jubilee, the Boys and Girls Club and make personal visits to people’s homes to help answer questions and solve problems they have with their land.

The Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) is an educational outreach program of Virginia’s land-grant universities: Virginia Tech and Virginia State University and an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture. It exists to bring knowledge to the residents of Virginia about how to cultivate and take care of their land and contribute to the health of the environment and benefit them through many community-based programs. The Lynchburg unit of VCE was founded in the early 1970s through the federally funded Consumer Health Project. Shortly thereafter, the City of Lynchburg began contributing to the funding of the Lynchburg VCE and moved the unit to its current location in the Miller Building on Grove Street.

Earlier this year, the Lynchburg VCE partnered with Hill City Master Gardeners Association (HCMGA) to create the Home Visit Committee in an effort to better serve the community. Kevin Camm, an Extension Agent at the Lynchburg Unit, recognizes the way this committee is benefiting Lynchburg.

“[The committee] has completed almost 50 house calls and put in over 400 hours,” Camm said.

The VCE and HCMGA receive many calls weekly on a variety of topics including trees, insects, fruits, vegetables, invasive plants and turf management. In addition to these calls, which can be answered over the phone, “we get several calls weekly about certain plant problems, low production, dying off, etcetera, and it is hard to come up with what the cause could be or what a possible solution would be without seeing it. The Home Visit Committee goes out to answer those calls in person and speak with the homeowner about the situation and give them information about what to do,” Camm explained.

The Master Gardeners are very knowledgeable in all areas of horticultural and desire to educate Lynchburg residents while working to solve their problems. When making house calls, they are able to educate individuals in the community about how to properly take a soil test and send it to the Virginia Tech Soil Testing Laboratory. Camm says that soil tests can be highly beneficial to gardeners and landscapers because they provide valuable information on the content of the soil and can reveal how much lime and fertilizer needs to be added.

“When the soil test results are received back to the homeowner with information about how much lime and fertilizer is necessary to apply and at the appropriate time, nutrient run-off into surface or ground water is minimized, money is saved and plant health is optimized,” Camm said.

This is just one example of how the Master Gardeners can not only help resolve problems faced by landscapers and gardeners in the Hilly City, but can also help them be better stewards of their land and resources.

The services of the Master Gardeners are available to all Lynchburg City, Campbell and Amherst County residents and are completely free (although the Hill City Master Gardeners Association does accept donations). For any horticultural, 4-H, Agriculture, Nutrition, Training, issue, concern or question, call the Lynchburg VCE at (434) 455-3740.

Jill Mollohan is the development and outreach coordinator at LHS. She is passionate about animal welfare work.

“These animals need us and they were put in this situation unwillingly,” Mollohan said. “They need to be cared for while they are waiting for their new home. This job can be very emotional—sad at times, but so rewarding too. I can’t imagine doing anything else and have never experienced something that makes me want to come to work everyday like this job has.”

Mollohan has a huge place in her heart for animals in need—something she sees a lot of on the job.

“When we get in an animal that is scared or has had a not-so-great past, I am always drawn to these animals,” she said.

Mollohan recalls the time an owner brought her dog into the shelter because she was moving and couldn’t take her dog with her. The dog had been kept outside on a chain most of her life and never brought inside. As a result, she was very nervous about objects and noises indoors. With special care from the staff, the dog was able to overcome most of her fears and was adopted by a loving couple who was a perfect match for her.

“She was adopted and is living a wonderful life like she was meant to,” Mollohan said.

Working at LHS may be a rewarding job, but coming to work each day never offers normalcy for Mollohan or any of the other employees or volunteers at the shelter. The staff arrives at 8 every morning and they take care of the animals, kennel cleaning and a range of other tasks until they open for the day at noon. Cleaning and animal care continues throughout the day, in addition to adoption screenings, placements, counseling, receiving strays, owner surrenders of their pets and treating sick animals.

In the midst of all this, each day brings its own challenges. One of the most common problems the shelter faces is finding room for all of the homeless animals. LHS is committed to becoming a “no kill” facility and strives never to euthanize saveable animals. Because of this, they must be creative every day to save and make room for as many animals as possible. Additionally, LHS works hard to educate the Lynchburg community about how to properly take care of animals and how to stop the population growth of stray and feral (free-roaming) cats.

With all of the work that must be done to take care of the animals, educate the public and facilitate adoptions, LHS is in constant need of good volunteers.

“Volunteers at the Lynchburg Humane Society are one of our biggest assets,” Mollohan said.

They perform a multitude of tasks including cat and dog socialization, dog-walking and special event support. The shelter also has a great need for foster volunteers who temporarily take animals into their homes that are too young or sick to come to the shelter. Mollohan stresses how important it is for the Lynchburg community to care about animals in need and support their local shelter. LHS is not a part of any national organization and receives no funding from any of them. A quarter of their budget is provided by the City of Lynchburg, but they rely on donations (materials and financial gifts) from the community to support their work of animal care.

“These animals did not ask to be put in this situation,” Mollohan said. “It is our responsibility to help these animals find new homes and to be in a humane and compassionate environment while they are in our care. Without the community’s support, we would not be able to continue to provide services to the community and help these homeless, lost, abandoned animals.”

“We built an iron fence system for [Liberty] that nobody else could do. We installed a compound iron fence on a curve going down which is very difficult,” he said.

But it was a challenge that Funderburk eagerly took on and it is this love of challenge that has shaped him into an excellent craftsman.

Funderburk began blacksmithing with his best friend, Rob Little, and Little’s father, Robert Little, while he was in high school. Robert purchased an anvil and made a blacksmith forge. As he learned the craft, Funderburk became fascinated with the way iron could be heated almost to its melting point and then transformed into something else. Still, for years, blacksmithing remained merely a hobby for Funderburk. Then, in 2003, he was laid off from Ericsson, Inc., when they shut down their last Lynchburg location. By the end of that year, Funderburk had decided to open his own blacksmithing and laser art shop. He purchased a small laser and began creating handmade blacksmithing products with laser art and opened his shop the first week in May of 2004 with the help and support of his wife, Jamie.

The business had a slow start because Funderburk had no name recognition. He began selling his products at the Lynchburg Community Market and continued to for six months. His opportunities quickly began growing as people started ordering signs and other special orders. Then, in November of 2004, a homeowner asked Funderburk to make ornamental railings for her house in Rustburg. He had never tried this type of project before, but he agreed to do the job.

“It came out beautifully and from there the business grew with leaps and bounds,” Funderburk said.

The homeowner’s son was a general contractor who began hiring Funderburk to do work on residences he was building. Funderburk began advertising himself to every contractor in the area which led to more projects than he could handle on his own. He hired his first employee in the spring of 2005 and today he has seven full-time employees.

In November of 2008, Funderburk started his own powder coating production line called Blue Ridge Powder Coating. Because of this, Evington Iron Works now has the capacity to complete each product in shop and get it directly to the customer. This way, Funderburk knows everything is perfect when it goes out the door. He says he thrives on the challenge of each project and is determined to provide a quality product to all of his customers. He especially enjoys creating custom works that other people can’t do, like ornamental door panels or fireplace doors with glass inserts.

“We do a lot of very complex fabrications that the average fabricator cannot do,” Funderburk explained.

Evington Iron Works has a showroom at their location in Evington, Virginia, as well as an online eBay store, which Funderburk’s wife operates. He does all of his projects on order and has a gallery of his laser art and ironwork available to view at www.EvingtonIronWorks.com. While his projects range from small to large, Funderburk takes great pride in all of his work. He is determined to provide each customer with a distinct, superior product.

“If you want something different and unique and not made in China come see me,” he said.

S&S Machines, Inc., is a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine shop that services the major manufacturers in central Virginia. The company specializes in repairing equipment for assembly lines at any time, day or night. This resource, provided by S&S, saves area businesses millions of dollars by repairing in hours what it would take days to replace, thereby reducing costs associated with time-loss when machines break down. S&S also prototypes and machines small and large quantities of metal and plastic parts to customers’ blueprint specifications. In addition to all of this and a variety of other offerings, S&S employees also market, design, machine and build the two archery product lines for the other company that Summers and his wife, Margaret, own, Tomorrow’s Resources Unlimited, Inc. (T.R.U., Inc.).

T.R.U., Inc., produces an archery trigger (release aid) line called T.R.U. Ball Releases as well as an archery sight (the aiming device mounted to a bow) line called AXCEL Sights. T.R.U. and S&S work together closely since S&S’s 50 full-time and 35 part-time employees run both of these lines and T.R.U. itself has no employees. The companies together truly are a family business, owned by the Summers. Family members fill many positions including Director of Operations, Controller, Payroll and Invoicing, Shooting Staff Coordinate, Director of Marketing, Customer Service Manager, Engineer, Graphic Designer and more.

T.R.U. distributes its high-quality products throughout the U.S. and they are sold in all Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s and Gander Mountain stores as well as in independently owned sporting goods stores and archery specialty stores around the world. T.R.U. is one of, if not the, largest archery trigger manufacturers in the world. They release quality products that continue to receive awards, including three “Best Buy” awards, this year alone, from Archery magazine.

Ten percent of T.R.U.’s business is international and comes from countries including Sweden, Italy, Belgium, South Africa, Australia, Japan and Mexico. While bowhunting is quite popular in the U.S., Ben Summers, Director of Operations, says that it is very rare across the rest of the world since hunting has historically been reserved for royalty and not for the common man. However, tournament archery has become very popular because most European commoners throughout the past were required to train in it in preparation for war. Archery is now the national sport of France.

The remainder of T.R.U.’s business comes from the U.S.

“The influence of bowhunting on archery … is very strong and drives the majority of archery sales,” Ben said.

The U.S. charges an 11 percent excise tax on most archery equipment, which funds the state game and fish departments.

“This money has caused the United States to be the world leader in animal conservation and is directly responsible for the protection of thousands of animal species,” Ben explained.

Ben would know—he is on the Board of Directors for the Archery Trade Associations and works often with the Deputy Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

As for their family history, he remembers his dad once telling him, “You can build a low-quality machine shop that uses unskilled machine operators that competes only on price or you can build a quality shop that emphasizes quality and integrity at fair prices. He chose to build the latter.”

Now, he says, S&S and T.R.U. both continue to grow and receive recognition because they continue to offer high quality products at a fair price.

“We also operate under the Golden Rule, treating everyone the way we would like to be treated,” Ben said. “If there is ever a question of whether or not a product should go out the door, we always tell our staff to think about whether they would like to receive product in that condition.”

While S&S Machine, Inc., and T.R.U., Inc., in Madison Heights do not actually sell to the public from their shop, there are five archery shops in Lynchburg that stock their products. Visit ssmachine.net, truball.com and axcelsites.com for more information.

When Tulane Patterson joined the Kiwanis Club of Lynchburg (KCL) in 1986, there were more than 200 members. Over the past 20 years, that number has slowly declined until it dwindled down to less than 50 members. This past year, Patterson was inspired to do something about Lynchburg’s dying chapter of the Kiwanis Club and he formed what he dubbed “The Invasion Committee.” This group of Kiwanis members took it upon themselves to recruit 25 new members this year. Paul Palazzo, the Kiwanis International President, told them if they obtained 30 new members that he would come visit the local club, so the Invasion Committee rose to the challenge. Now, the local chapter of this international club has 80 members and that number is rising.

The Kiwanis Club, founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan, is dedicated to the mission of “changing the world one child and one community at a time.” Lynchburg’s chapter of the club was founded in January of 1920 and since then has done much to impact the local community. Several times a month, members of the club visit local elementary schools to recognize and reward students who have been successful in reaching their individual goals. This program is called “Terrific Kids” and is designed to encourage children, at a young age, to set goals and accomplish them.

In late August, local chapter president Peter Parker was at Bass Elementary School to congratulate 18 kids who received the Terrific Kids award.

“Each child came up to me and shook hands, smiled and said ‘thank you,’” Parker said. “A number of the kids were not used to smiling at strange adults and it took a lot of effort on their part to get that smile out. But they did it. And were they proud. The whole program was broadcast on the school TV network to all the classrooms. It was a big deal and it showed.”

Experiences like this are ones that Parker calls “Kiwanis moments”—when you really feel like you are making a difference.

Every fall, the KCL also sponsors the annual Teddy Bear Parade. This event promotes community as families from all around attend, and each child brings their favorite teddy bear for the parade. Each bear is judged and can receive awards in different categories.

“It is so much fun to see these young children show off their favorite bears and to see the smiles on their faces when they are recognized as having the best bear in the various categories,” said Immediate Past President Max Meador.

Recently, Patterson led a program to build a playground in the inner city neighborhood, Daniel’s Hill, through Kiwanis. The KCL had the playground professionally designed, raised money for the project and then built it from the ground up. The entire project took a year and a half and throughout that time the Kiwanians tutored children in the community center there.

“We were connecting retired businessmen and women from the suburbs with these children and the benefits were felt on both sides. We had regular picnics [in] the neighborhood and built a wonderful community relationship between the two parties,” Patterson said.

The KCL is currently participating in the renovation of Riverside Park by taking on the project of refurbishing the old train there that consists of a C&O Kanawha locomotive and tender and a Virginia type C-1 caboose #64. Over the years, this train has fallen into disrepair due to neglect and the effects of the weather. Now, the KCL wants to restore it to its original beauty by building a protective shelter over it to ensure that it will be enjoyed for generations to come.

The Kiwanis Club operates several other service projects and offers college scholarships in addition to sponsoring community service clubs—Key Clubs in local high schools and Circle K Clubs in local colleges. According to Patterson, students involved in these clubs gain tremendous experience in leadership and service.

“They often come to our meeting to share their stories and successes,” he said. “Sometimes, they help with our events and we help with theirs. For some retired guys in the club, it is the only time they are around young people and to see the relationships built is amazing. And for the students, it is often the chance to learn leadership that begins a lifetime of contributing to their work and community.”

On September 4, The Kiwanis Club of Lynchburg celebrated the first time visit of the Palazzolo and the induction of over 30 new members at the Holiday Inn Select in downtown Lynchburg. The evening was a great example of the heart of community behind the Kiwanis Club. The members enjoyed great camaraderie and sincere appreciation for each other.

“[They] are movers and shakers. They get things done,” Parker said of his fellow Kiwanians. “By their example and tutoring I agreed to be president. I had never had such commitment from others as I have received in Kiwanis. I find that almost all my friends are Kiwanians. No, I did not recruit them into Kiwanis. It was Kiwanis where I found them.”

City Council Member Michael Gillette was present at the celebration dinner and, on behalf of the City, expressed his appreciation to the Kiwanis Club for all that they do.

The Kiwanis Club International has been committed to serving local communities around the world for 95 years. The Kiwanis Club of Lynchburg is no different. According to Patterson, “We live our mission everyday.”

The Kiwanis Club of Lynchburg is open to both men and women of all ages. To learn more about joining or volunteering at any number of service projects they sponsor, visit www.lynchburgkiwanis.org.

In 1962, a group of parents in the Central Virginia area began meeting together in an effort to come up with some sort of program for their children and others with disabilities. Out of these meetings was born the idea of The Arc, with the mission statement that the facility would be “dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with disabilities by creating and encouraging opportunities for individual growth and development.” According to Cash, it is vitally important to the disabled to have routine and structure in their day-to-day life and it is also incredibly helpful to their families to have somewhere to send them for a period of time every day.

“The program is so beneficial for people with disabilities because they need the same thing happening every day,” said Allen Layne, current president-elect and the brother of a 27-year participant at The Arc.

That first year, Camp Meadowlark was started during the summer. This was followed by another program called Camp Jaycee, then water therapy programs for the disabled. Later came the Laarc School which served 2- to 5-year-olds and severely handicapped children that the public schools couldn’t serve. The Laarc School later began serving individuals ages 2 to 21 and became the Laurel Regional Program. Finally in 1976, the organization was able to purchase property on Bedford Avenue in Lynchburg and open the Arc Developmental Center.

Now, 34 years later, The Arc is still at the same location and currently services 70 people with a variety of mental, developmental and physical disabilities, ranging from age 19 to 83. They offer a day support program, residential services and during the summer, Camp Meadowlark provides four weeks of fun for individuals ages 2 and up.

“[This camp] keeps them engaged during the summer months when they would otherwise just be sitting at home,” Cash said.

The day support program “provides a safe, supervised environment to meet each individuals needs,” according to The Arc’s Web site. This program gives participants the opportunity to make friends and build relationships with others while taking part in a variety of activities that stimulate interest and increase skills. Cash says the individuals who attend love the program and look forward to going every day.

“We have one lady that cries if she can’t come,” he said. “One time, her family had to bring her to the Arc to show her that we were closed because she was so upset. It was a holiday and she was so upset that she couldn’t come to the Arc.”

There are seven center-based classes that meet daily at The Arc in a classroom setting and there are four non-center based classes that focus on becoming an active part of the local community through volunteer work and a variety of other activities.

“[The non-center based classes] are a wonderful opportunity for our individuals to get out into the community and for the community to see our individuals and how loving they are and how much they want to help,” Cash explained. “They like the idea that people look forward to them coming and miss them if they don’t come.”

The Residential Services provided by The Arc are especially important in helping the families of individuals with disabilities. Many of these individuals require around-the-clock attention and care, leaving parents or caregivers unable to find time to attend to their own needs.

The Arc also offers the Respite Program which is available during times the day program is not in session. This program offers care for disabled individuals in their homes during the evenings and weekends, providing their families with much-needed opportunities to take care of other business or simply to relax. In-Home Support is also offered as a supplement to the daily activities of the day program. It provides individuals with further personalized training in the home to learn new skills and help increase their independence.

The Arc also sponsors residential programs in the community that provide disabled individuals the opportunity to live in a family home in the community while receiving assistance, supervision and monitoring from The Arc’s staff. Through these residential programs, The Arc is able to provide assurances that the homes meet state regulations while ensuring that caregivers receive compensation for the daily care they provide as they are often unable to work an outside job. Sometimes this program places individuals with a family in the community, but most of the time it helps provide a way for an individual to live at home with their own family.

“Most of our families have been doing it for years without any type of compensation and very little assistance at all, so it’s a wonderful program for the families,” Cash said.

Through all of these programs, the goal is that the individuals that The Arc services would be able to “live a life like ours,” Jason Witt, current board member and former president of The Arc, said. He says that being able to come to The Arc every day and have such structure in their lives is vital for people with disabilities.

“It keeps them engaged and gives them a sense of purpose,” Witt said.  

In spite of the wonderful purpose The Arc serves, in difficult economic times they are severely affected. While Medicaid covers the cost of attendance for the individuals, The Arc relies primarily on donations to stay afloat.

“We’re non-profit, but our bills our not,” Cash often tells people.

Being the only day support program in the area that employs a full-time nurse and with a broad reach in our area, serving people from Lynchburg, Amherst, Bedford, Altavista, Campbell County, Appomattox and even one individual from Nelson, the need for donations is greater than ever right now.

The Arc’s goal is never to turn anyone away but to service as many disabled people in the area as they can. Cash recalled the age-old saying, “A civilization will be judged by how it treats its weakest members.” She hopes that even now, when it’s hard to give, that local donors will still find a way to step up on behalf of its disabled neighbors.

If you would like to help, The Arc will be hosting a used book sale October 1^st (8 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and 2^nd (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) of this year. The sale has been running for 50 years, previously run by the American Association of University Women and it was taken over last year by The Arc. They would love to accept any book donations during their hours of operation (Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) and encourage people to attend the sale.